The government is shut down. What happens now?

Congress narrowly averted a shutdown in December, when members passed a spending bill to push the deadline to fund the government to January 19.

The Republicans and Democrats could not overcome their differences Friday night, resulting in a federal government shutdown. The bill funds the government through February 16.

Democrats are blaming Republicans, who control the White House and both houses of Congress, for the mess; Republicans, who need cooperation from the other side to pass the funding bill with 60 votes, are blaming Democrats. House Republicans passed a bill on Thursday to fund the government through February 16 that did not include an immigration deal, but Senate Democratic leaders opposed the short-term bill and some Republicans voted against it as well.

What is a government shutdown?

Such temporary shutdowns have occurred numerous times in the past-most recently, in 2013-and close observation suggests that they have little effect on trends in economic conditions, interest rates, the stock market, or even the dollar. It left almost 800,000 federal employees out of work without pay and more than a million other working employees had their paychecks delayed.

But numerous government's primary duties will continue to be performed, although the workers may not be paid for it. Trump, for example, tweeted that a shutdown will be "devastating to our military", but that's not true.

TAXES: The Internal Revenue Service furloughed 90 percent of its staff in 2013, the liberal Center for American Progress said.

In addition, while the State Department will continue to operate its "essential" and "non-excepted" divisions that are necessary to maintain national security, it too will have to furlough sizeable segments of its employees, according to the department's contingency plan.

When the government shuts down, which has only happened three times in a meaningful way since 1995, hundreds of thousands of "non-essential" federal workers may be put on furlough, while "essential" employees, dealing with public safety and national security, would keep working.

Gov. Charlie Baker is hopeful that if there is a shutdown, it won't last long. Among the national parks in California that would be affected are Yosemite, Sequoia, Pinnacles, Redwood, Joshua Tree, Mojave, Point Reyes National Seashore, and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes Muir Woods, the Presidio, Fort Point and Alcatraz.

This whole shutdown process is a relatively recent phenomenon. If a compromise isn't reached, the shutdown will start Friday, Jan. 19 at 11:59 p.m.

You'll still be able to fly in an airplane, and fly safely because TSA agents and air traffic controllers will still be on the clock. However active-duty troops may not get paid until the budget impasse is resolved and death benefits to survivors won't be processed.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, asked about a possible shutdown while posing with Jordan's foreign minister for photographs at the department's headquarters, said: "We're ready if that's what happens".

"In the short term, right now it's not a huge impact", he said.

Other lawmakers expressed frustration with the frequent reliance on continuing resolutions to fund the government.

Republicans in the majority have been pressing for another short-term funding bill - the federal fiscal year began October 1 without an annual appropriation - and say Democrats are playing politics; Democrats, meanwhile, appear to believe this represents one of the few chances they will get to apply pressure to the Republicans to force an accommodation to pass a law protecting the dreamers.

Social Security, which has its own funding source, will issue its usual checks.

Payments would still be issued from Medicare and Medicaid, which insure millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans.

But aside from these cut-and-dry cases, there is no hard-and-fast rule as to which services are considered "essential".

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